Queen Elizabeth to name warship Queen Elizabeth

LONDON (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II will officially name Britain's biggest ever warship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, at a ceremony in July, the Ministry of Defence announced on Saturday.

The monarch will give the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier a traditional champagne christening at the Rosyth dockyard near Edinburgh on July 4 to mark its completion.

The ship is named after both the 87-year-old monarch and England's Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned from 1558 to 1603.

Thousands are expected to line the banks of the Firth of Forth for the event, including the workers who helped to build it. More than 7,000 people in more than 100 companies around Britain have played a hand in its construction.